Description

Mirò Joan (1893 – 1983)

Joan Mirò was born on April 20, 1893 in Barcelona. Son of a goldsmith and watchmaker, young Joan showed a passion for drawing from the age of eight. After having attended a commercial school, he worked as a bookkeeper in a grocery store, but soon his employment caused him a nervous breakdown that prompted him to study art. He attended the Francesc Galí School of Art in Barcelona until 1915, the year when he rented a studio and finally came into contact with other personalities of the artistic world. In 1920 he moved to Paris where he met Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia and Tristan Tzara. Josè Dalmau had organized his first personal exhibition at Galerie la Licrone in Paris in 1921; The exhibition represented the baptism of the artist in the universe of art. His already very original style was influenced by Dadaist poetics until 1924, when he definitely adheres to Surrealism. As a theoretical radical of the movement, a tireless experimenter and a multifaceted personality, Mirò was described by Breton himself, founder of Surrealism, “the most surrealist of all of us”; His artistic expression goes through painting, sculpture, watercolor, collage and especially graphics. He won numerous awards such as the Grand Prize for Graphic at the Venice Biennale 1958 and the Guggenheim International Award as well as national and international awards. Caliber museums like MoMa have dedicated to the artist retrospectives around the world, consecrating him one of the most influential artists of the last century. He died on December 25, 1983 in his home in Palma de Mallorca.